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Welcome Back!

Good-bye Summer.

Welcome back to MamaManagement. Welcome back to the school year. Welcome back to schedules and routines and more structure to the days. Welcome back to time at the coffee shop to write. Just welcome back!

**awkward silence**

Okay, so, I lied. Full-on, total and complete fib. And, though I'm not totally sure, I think I might have even known I was lying it when I did it.

You see, back in June, I said that I was going to cut back on my blog posts for the summer. That was NOT a lie.

But I also said that I wouldn't be stopping completely.

...Um, yeah, that's where the red warning light flashes:

Blink: *Lie* Blink: *Lie* Blink: *Lie*

Oops.

Soooooo, I took the whole summer off. Nothing wrong with that, right? I just found that with zero kid-free time (no school + babysitter out-of-town most of the summer= no alone time), it was stressing me out trying to find time to write. And that went against what writing is to me-- it is one of my stress antidotes.

So, instead of stressing about it, I embraced my relaxed, kid-filled summertime and LOVED IT. Summer was awesome. And I am truly sad to see it end.

Last week was my daughter's first day of kindergarten. Her first year at the elementary school. Her first year riding the bus. The true kick-off of the long academic adventure ahead of her. It was a bit emotional when I let myself really think about the journey she was embarking on...and the fact that so much of it would happen without me there. That's the hardest pill to swallow. The separation. Don't get me wrong. I so love a little me time. But I hate the thought of missing all of this time with her. Lucky for me, it's half day kindergarten, so it's still only a few hours. I have no idea what I'll do next year when she hits the first grade and goes all day.

I will miss her. That's what I'll do.

And today was my son's first day of preschool. The awesomeness of this can be captured in two statements: Two mornings a week of quiet writing time for me at my favorite coffee shop. and Two mornings a week of playtime with different friends and different toys for him. We will both enjoy this time. And that's the beauty of preschool, because that's really all it is...a little playtime away from Mommy. I don't feel the enormity of the future with this the way I do with kindergarten. Give me time, though.

I didn't fully grasp the difference a year can make, though, until I looked at last year's first day of school pictures. My how they've grown. Just: Wow.

There you have it. To summarize: Summer was awesome. Sad to see it end. School is back in. There are emotions involved. Happy to be back at the coffee shop, back at the computer and back to MamaManagement. I missed you guys.

Until next time, take a moment to stop and look around. Soak it all in and savor it. (Ferris Bueller was right, you know...life moves pretty fast.)


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